


Summer Loving

by Indig0



Series: DBH Rare Pairs Weeks [20]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, Bad Parent Amanda (Detroit: Become Human), Camp Counselors Hank and Kara, F/M, Growing Up, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Losing Touch, Nature Director Gavin Reed, Wild Child North, happy reunion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:40:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23476348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Indig0/pseuds/Indig0
Summary: “Hey, c’mere,” North said, and pulled Connor over to the side.  “I… you’d better come back because you’re really cool and I want to see you again, and I don’t know… if I’ll ever see you outside of camp.”Connor bit his lip, but smiled.  “You’re really cool too, North.  I… I hope we see each other again.”(For DBH Rarepairs Week, prompt: Kids/Family)
Relationships: Connor & Josh & Markus & North & Simon (Detroit: Become Human), Connor & Upgraded Connor | RK900, Connor/North (Detroit: Become Human)
Series: DBH Rare Pairs Weeks [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1480529
Comments: 6
Kudos: 33





	Summer Loving

When North came out of the camp director’s office, Connor was waiting at the bottom of the steps. She was glaring at the ground.

“Come on,” she growled.

“Okay.” The two started back towards their group, playing kickball over in the meadow. “…Are you okay?”

“I bet they didn’t yell at Josh like that! He thinks he knows everything, but he’s so dumb!”

Connor shrugged uncomfortably.

“She said I have to apologize, so I’m just gonna lie because I was right.”

“You could… say you’re sorry about hurting his feelings,” Connor offered. “That doesn’t mean you’re wrong.”

North frowned as they walked. “…I guess that could work,” she muttered. “I didn’t mean to hurt his feelings. He was just being a jerk.”

“Maybe don’t say that to him, but the rest is good.”

North nodded, looking a little less unhappy. “Yeah, okay. Thanks.” Then she grinned and took off running. “I’m gonna kick the ball into his head!”

She didn’t, and Connor kicked it farther than she did, but she wasn’t really mad about it.

North jumped onto the porch of Connor’s cabin. “Connor!”

“What?”

“Connor, why’s your girlfriend here?”

“Shut up Daniel, I’ll tell Hank you said that.” Connor came to stand silhouetted in the yellow light of the doorway. “What is it?”

“There’s a bloody man up in the woods. I already told the counselors, but they’re being slow. Wanna go look with me?”

Connor frowned. “A bloody man?”

“Because there’s barbed wire up the hill, and he’d have to climb through that.”

“But you saw a man?”

“Yeah. …Probably. It’s something really big anyway.”

Connor’s face hardened. “Okay, but we’re not going unarmed.” He jumped off the side of the steps and pulled two brooms with thick wooden handles out from under the cabin.

North grinned widely and took one of the brooms, then went charging up the hill, flashlight swinging wildly. Connor was right behind her. Ahead of them the bushes rustled.

“North?” called Kara from down the hill.

“It’s okay, guys!” North yelled into the night. “It’s just a raccoon!” Connor laughed as she dropped her broom and grabbed his hand, tugging him back down to the cabins. They’d have to come back for the broom when it was light out.

“So are you coming back next year?” North clomped through the mostly dry creek.

“I don’t know. I’ll have to ask my mom,” Connor murmured.

“But you want to, right? I come every year. Fourth of July, so there’s not as many people and you can get in even if you sign up late,” she advised him. “I want to do horse camp, I’ll be old enough in two years. Do you like horses?”

“I’ve never ridden one…”

“Me either, but I’ve read about it and I’ve seen some movies, and I’ve petted a horse. …Well, one time I sat on a horse while somebody pulled it around in a circle, but I was just two years old and I don’t remember.”

Connor nodded. “Maybe…”

She turned to glare at him. “Don’t you want to?”

“I do!” Connor said quickly. “I just… My mom’s really strict and I don’t know if she’ll let me.”

“Tell her it’s good for you. Tell her it’s educational! We learned about history of this place, and a lot of nature stuff, and how to make tie-dye.”

“Mine just looked like mud,” Connor said forlornly.

“Mine did too.” She shrugged.

“That’s… not the kind of stuff she cares about,” Connor mumbled, kicking a rock. “It’s not… important.”

“It’s really cool, though!”

“She doesn’t think so.”

North frowned. “She sounds really boring. I don’t like her.”

Connor flinched a little.

“I like _you,_ don’t be stupid. You’re really cool. I just said _she_ sounds boring.”

Connor covered a giggle. “…She is,” he whispered, grinning.

North laughed victoriously and bent to pick up a rock. “Look at the hole through this! It’s a perfect circle! I’m gonna make it a necklace.”

Connor laughed harder. “It’s bigger than both of your hands! It probably weighs like ten pounds!”

“I don’t care, I’m keeping it.”

Connor scanned the creekbed and bent to pick up a rock. It was the size of his fingernail, with its own perfect hole. “I’ll make one with this.”

“Whoa! It’s so little!” She looked down, and the two started pushing rocks aside, looking for smaller ones. When it was time to go back, they each had their pockets full and their arms loaded with rocks.

“Okay North, take it easy,” Gavin said with a rough chuckle. “We’re making leaf rubbings, not firestarters. Go find another leaf. And another piece of paper.”

There was a snap.

“…And another crayon.”

North stalked up into the trees. After a moment, Connor followed her. He didn’t say anything, but stepped up next to her.

“I didn’t mean to rip it,” she muttered after a while. “I was being gentle, it was just… really weak.”

Connor nodded. “I got a sassafrass leaf – they’re pretty strong. Some have three lobes, or two, or just one. Mine had two, like a mitten.”

North almost smiled. “I had a maple leaf. …I think they’re pretty.” She eyed him, waiting for him to laugh.

“I think so too,” he said thoughtfully. “They’ve got a good shape, and I like all the little points. But that probably makes them harder to make rubbings of.”

Now she did smile, just for a second before her face fell. “…I really was being careful,” she mumbled. “I don’t… break _everything_.”

“I know. Gavin’s kind of mean, isn’t he?”

“He sucks.”

Connor grinned. “I ate breakfast at his table one time in the dining hall. If anybody tries to talk to him he growls like a dog.”

North giggled and grabbed Connor’s arm, hugging it briefly. “He barks like one when he’s mad, too!”

“He does! …What about this leaf?” Connor picked up a freshly-fallen maple leaf, large and green. “It looks good.”

“That’s perfect! Thanks!” North stepped forward quickly, then stopped and squeezed his hand before running back down to get a new paper and crayon.

“I wish we could stay forever,” North groaned the day before they left. “I don’t have anybody to hang out with at home. You guys are coming back next year, right?”

“Of course,” said Simon.

“I am,” said Josh.

“Definitely,” Markus said.

“If… if I can,” Connor said.

“You will.” She glared at him. “What’s your phone number?”

“Um… my mom checks all my texts and stuff…” Connor wrote it down anyway, and the others all copied it down.

“What else do you have? Tumblr, Discord, Instagram, Facebook… email?”

“I… I have email but my mom checks that too.”

“And she won’t let you have friends?” North demanded.

“I can only talk to people on the weekends, after my homework’s done.”

“You’re such a nerd, Connor,” North sighed. “…I know it’s not your fault.”

“You could make an account that she doesn’t know about,” Markus said.

“What if we give you ours, and you can write to us and we can talk that way?” Simon suggested.

“Just don’t get in trouble,” Josh warned.

“…Thanks,” Connor murmured, smiling a little. “I’ll try.”

“Hey, c’mere,” North said, and pulled Connor over to the side. “I… you’d better come back because you’re really cool and I want to see you again, and I don’t know… if I’ll ever see you outside of camp.”

Connor bit his lip, but smiled. “You’re really cool too, North. I… I hope we see each other again.”

North frowned, hugging herself.

Then the line of cars arrived, and everyone was running around yelling for their parents, and they lost track of each other. As she was driving away, North saw a stern-looking woman talking to Connor. He looked stiff and uncomfortable.

Connor didn’t go back to camp the next year. Or the year after that, when North did horse camp. Or the two years after that, which was more horses. Or when she was a counselor in training. She and the others called and texted him a lot at first, but his mother asked them to contact him less often, and then their numbers were blocked.

When North was eighteen, she was hired as the camp’s sports director. A week of training and orientation would precede the campers’ arrival, and she couldn’t wait. She put her things away, then went out to see who else was working. Josh was an office assistant, and Markus and Simon were counselors. Rose, who had been a counselor before, was the director now, and North admired how she took control of situations without getting mad about anything. Kara and Hank had gone on to do other things with their lives, but they were both fondly remembered.

North greeted old friends, and people she tolerated but wouldn’t talk to if she could avoid. She directed new staff to open cabins. Among them were two guys who had to be brothers. They both looked weirdly familiar, and she had to stare for a minute before she realized.

“CONNOR!?” she screamed across the parking lot.

The slightly shorter one jumped, clutching the strap of his backpack, and the taller one’s eyes narrowed. But then he saw her, and Connor grinned.

“North!” He ran over. “I can’t believe you’re still here!”

“Like I’ve got anywhere else to be,” she scoffed, and pulled him into a sudden hug. “Oh my god, you’re… I mean, you’re not a little kid anymore!”

“Neither are you,” he pointed out with a chuckle. “I missed you. I didn’t think you’d remember me, even if we did see each other again…”

She pushed him. “What the hell, Connor, why wouldn’t I remember you? You know I kept trying to call and text you, just in case? Every week at first!”

Connor made a face. “…Mom got so mad about that. She blocked your number, and the others.’ I’m so sorry.”

“I figured, we didn’t think you’d do that.” She frowned. “Everything… good now?”

“Um… well first, this is my brother Richard.”

“Hey,” North said. Richard nodded guardedly.

“Um. My mom and I got in a fight… a few fights, over a few years… mostly about how I was throwing my life and talents away. Not like my perfect little brother.” He rolled his eyes, and Richard did the same a little less expressively. “So finally I had enough and I left.” He grinned. “…And then my perfect little brother who always listened and did everything she told him to showed up at my door, because he didn’t want to be stuck with that either.”

“Nice,” North said to Richard approvingly.

“I didn’t see a way out until Connor left,” Richard said quietly. His voice was softer and lower than Connor’s. “But… I thought together we might stand a chance.”

“So… I liked it here, and I saw an ad on craigslist for counselors, and it’s free room and board for nine weeks…” Connor smiled faintly, and she caught the uncertain tremor.

“…And you’ll get to laugh at kids all day, and some of them are really cool, and everybody else is here too,” she added, looping her arm through his. He gave it a little squeeze, and it was like they’d never been apart.

“Richard’s afraid he’ll be too quiet for the job, but I told him he doesn’t have to worry,” Connor said.

“No, listen – our counselors that year, Hank and Kara, they were both pretty quiet. Kids’ll like you if you listen to them and talk to them like they’re people, and care about things they like. If they know you give a shit about them, they’ll do anything for you,” she assured the taller brother as they walked towards the cabins. She showed them where Simon and Markus were staying – Josh was in a different cabin – and the two brought a couple small bags in. Markus and Simon were thrilled to see Connor again as well, and welcomed Richard happily. Once they were settled in and seemed more relaxed, North pulled Connor outside again.

“I’m really glad you came back,” she murmured. “I mean – I really missed you, and it’ll be great to… I guess get to know you better, it’s been like ten years. Nine? Something like that .”

“Thanks. I – It meant a lot to me that you kept trying to keep in touch after camp. I didn’t really have many friends… Richard and I didn’t get along until we were older, I think we both resented each other a lot because of our mom. And now… he’s all I have, and it… it means a lot that… you’re still here.”

“…I mean, yeah, this place is more home to me than anywhere else,” North scoffed. “…And where else was I gonna run into you again?”

Connor smiled warmly and reached out to touch her cheek. His hand was warm and soft with some odd callouses on it. Before she could second-guess herself, she turned just enough to kiss his palm lightly, then stepped back quickly.

“…I wanted to do that before, but I didn’t want to be gross,” she mumbled, red-faced. “Sorry.”

Connor stared at her, unmoving for a long moment. “…I don’t think it’s gross if it’s one person kissing a hand,” he finally said. “Um… would… you mind, though? Or is two people kissing… too gross?”

She looked up at his lopsided smile, and felt one of her own tugging at her lips. “Okay, you don’t have to be weird about it, come on.”

His smile grew, and she tipped her face up to meet his lips.


End file.
